Object of the Week - May 8th, 2016 - NGC 5383 Canes Venatici

[akarsh]

Paul, thanks for putting this beautiful galaxy on my radar. I observed it on Friday night (24th March 2023) from the Hovatter Road Antenna Site, which is where Hemant and I went after finding the Anza-Borrego desert too windy and a tad too bright for my taste. (For context, I had a social visit with Paul last week). I'll have to revisit your fabulous backyard desert again for the other things it has to offer! Here's what I logged with my 18" f/4.5, I had no tracking:

"A bright galaxy near a distracting double star. A round core with a roughly E-W elongated bar are easily seen. With effort, the "cap" of the leading (western) end of the bar is seen as a curved protrusion. The lagging (eastern) end-cap appears very occasionally."

I bet this would be a sight in Jimi's telescope.

[Steve Gottlieb]

I bet this would be a sight in Jimi's telescope.

Here you go (from May '18) ...

"I was impressed at 375x and 610x by the prominent "Z"-shaped barred spiral appearance! NGC 5383 is strongly concentrated with a very bright oval core, ~0.6' diameter, containing a very small brighter nucleus. The core isn't elongated in the direction of the bar, though, but angles WSW-ENE towards an 8" pair of mag 14 stars 1.1' from center. The central bar is oriented NW-SE and extends ~1.5' x 0.4'. At both ends of the bar are relatively large, bright knots (regions of enhanced star formation), ~18" diameter. A fairly thin, striking "wing" (spiral arm) extends ~0.7' SW from the SE end of the bar, forming a sharp right angle. A less distinct and shorter arm angles NE from the NW end of the bar, completing the "Z" with a "stroke" (core) outline. A low surface brightness, roundish halo, encompasses the striking shape. Two mag 16-16.5 stars are superimposed north of the core."